Browse Features 2022 - insidedenim: Global denim industry news and vie

Jeanologia’s José Luis García says the denim industry in Mexico has good prospects for growth as western brands scale down sourcing in Asia.

The need to back sustainable practices with bona fide third-party certification has led to the development of countless labels and standards serving the varied environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies of brands and retailers.

The growing popularity of gender-free denim design highlights limitations in the traditional men’s-or-women’s approach to retail.

In a 300,000m2 facility located in Inegol, near Bursa, Turkey’s industrial hub, Isko produces some 300 million meters of fabric every year.

Skinny jeans remain top sellers, but looser styles are chipping away at their long-standing market dominance. Comfort, which relies on a measure of stretch, remains a top priority for consumers, but goes against sustainable design guidelines that discourage fibre blends.

Mud Jeans has long found favour with its commitment to bettering the denim ecosystem.

In their quest to reduce the impacts of their products, brands and retailers are quick to promote a switch to more sustainable fibres. But indigo dyeing is a major industry hotspot that makes headlines when rivers turn blue.

An innovative water treatment system at Cone Denim’s facility in Parras, Mexico, takes reverse osmosis to new heights.

For some, hemp and denim have a strong connection. For others, it is and will forever remain a minor fibre. Both camps have a point. Its place and role in the industry may however evolve as an infrastructure builds up to process this alternative fibre.

Tilmann Wröbel visits 1083, a French brand and manufacturer that is among a growing number of companies showing that, with a little determination, supply chains can be established and textiles jobs created domestically.

Last year, HeiQ introduced AeoniQ yarn as a climate-positive (the raw materials capture rather than emit carbon) alternative to polyester and nylon. Now the fashion world is paying careful attention.

A meander around the UK reveals an enthusiastic core of talented designers, dedicated consultants and skilful makers.

An entire industry is built on one iconic fabric, a twill weave made from a warp-dyed indigo and a weft, left white.

Half of the signatories to Net Zero Pakistan – which aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – are mills and manufacturers in the denim supply chain.

From dyeing with soundwaves, via natural indigo and new fibres, head of product innovation Paul Dillinger explains how Wellthread collections operate as a type of R&D hub, laying the groundwork for successful main line interpretations, including the first Circular 501s.

What would jeans be without cotton? The natural fibre is literally a staple of the denim industry.

An investigation into the presence of harmful chemicals in textile waste seeks to assess whether it is safe or not to recycle old clothes into new ones. Initial findings have found this risk to be low, but not negligible. It is a signal that further research is needed, along with a better understanding, and tracking, of chemical usage.

First used to address the troublesome issue of back-staining, the mark of a low-end product, ozone is a powerful oxidising agent that is widely considered more sustainable than conventional chemicals. New developments in machinery and chemicals suggest that it has yet to reach its full potential.

A next-generation laundry concept is poised to make quite a splash in the UK, ready to bring denim washing, finishing and reprocessing back to the nation’s shores for the first time since 2002. Inside Denim chats to Salli Deighton, the English denim design and development specialist making it all happen.

Jonas Astrup, the Tashkent-based chief of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) third-party monitoring project, updates Inside Denim on the state of cotton-picking in Uzbekistan. Particularly, how the ILO now detects a positive – and significant – link between the Uzbek cotton harvest and female empowerment.

Swiss textile technology developer HeiQ has launched AeoniQ, a cellulose­-based yarn that it says offers the ease ­of ­use, the performance levels, the versatility, the affordability and the scalability to allow the textile industry to consign polyester and nylon to the past.

Most consumers have only a vague notion of the repercussions of the use of pumice in denim stonewashing. For the industry, these volcanic stones remain a gold standard, and are unmatched in their ability to achieve what is considered authentic wear and tear. The long-established practice is nonetheless increasingly being called into question, as alternative solutions come closer to reproducing the coveted look and feel of real stones.

Denim Dynasty founder Nino Castro believes too much time is wasted starting laser designs from scratch and has come up with an idea that he believes will simplify the process for designers, brands and manufacturers.

From cotton farming to fabric and garment processing, the denim industry is often charged with consuming inordinate amounts of water. In reality, much progress has been made to counter these accusations. The latest developments focus on recycling water to achieve zero-liquid discharge.

The first commercial batch of synthetic indigo came to market in 1897. Its discovery would be crowned by a Nobel Prize for its contribution to the advancement of modern chemistry. Now, 125 years later, it owes its high level of recognition to its ties to the denim industry. In less than a decade, the modern synthetic dyestuff had replaced its natural equivalent, and its dominance continues, despite the specific processes needed to make the pigment bond to cotton fibres.

The Dutch Denim Deal is a cross-industry partnership between public and private companies that could offer a blueprint for a circular system. What progress has been made in the year since it was signed and what are the implications for the rest of the world?